My bolts are bothering me.

[CHRIS WBS]

I’ve been coming along fine in my recovery until the past couple of weeks when I’ve been experiencing more than just the usual achiness where my pelvic bolts are implanted. The achiness subsides after taking a couple Tylenol arthritis pain capsules which suggests to me that I have some inflammation around the bolts. I will be seeing my surgeon in three weeks and I will let him know, but in the meantime I’m wondering if anyone else with a fusion to the pelvis has experienced this. Needless to say, this has me worried a bit. Chris

[Karen Ocker]

Yes Chris,

I've felt all manner of aches, jolts, jabs etc. post-op. It all, for me, went away in time.

Actually, even though I am pain free, I still have areas waking up from numbness!

[LindaRacine]

Hi Chris...

It's really common for iliac bolts to cause irritation, and I've know quite a few people who have had them removed once the fusion is assumed to be solid, which is apparently a fairly simple procedure.

Good luck.

Regards,
Linda

[discombobulated]

Hi Chris,

I'm only 2.5 months out from the re-do of my L3-pelvis fusion, but yes - can really relate to your troubles with the pelvic bolts. I have (to me) an unbelievable amount of metal now in the lumbar area & more than one set of bolts in my pelvis. At the moment, I'm having a lot of sharp pain from the left side (down my pelvis & leg) while sitting, & lying on my right side (where my pelvis is very prominent, so I lie heavily on it) triggers masses of nerve pains down the right leg. My surgeon wasn't especially surprised & did say it should go away in time (along with the random nerve pains).

I can't remember how the pelvic bolts felt early on from my first time around with the extensions, but in the last few years they did give me a lot of pain - partly related to movement, & I could feel them clicking/grinding around in my pelvis, since they had badly failed to fuse & were cutting up my bone. I don't say this to scare you - just to say it felt different to this (seemingly) successful fusion this time. It is, it seems, quite common to get pain from the pelvic bolts soon after successful surgery - & from my experience, this pain from them is quite different to the movement/grinding pain I had with my failed fusion. Definitely talk with your surgeon about it, but please don't worry too much - the failed fusion / bolts moving was very obvious to me, & created a different kind of pain to what you describe.

Sorry to ramble on - I hope this makes some sense. [still having some trouble organising my thoughts, & conveying them accurately & without repeating myself too much - sorry]

Take care

[CHRIS WBS]

Thanks, ladies. Yep, there’s definitely something going on with my left bolt because I’m starting to have pain in my left buttock. I’ll see what my doc has to say.